Eggless Fruit Cake in Microwave

Let me tell you that is an alcoholic cake, mild of course. Its got about 2 tsp of rum in it and the dry fruits were soaked in rum for around a week. It is egg less and is prepared in the Microwave. This being my first attempt in trying a rum cake (any alcoholic cake) I was wary and added less quantity. You can either increase the liquid portion or remove it completely according to your choice.

In case you want a non-alcoholic version, just soak the chopped nuts in orange juice or apple  juice overnight. Or you can boil the chopped nuts in the juice along with some sugar for five to ten minutes and use it.

Despite adding caramel water, the cake does not get the dark shade of the usual Christmas cakes. It is more lighter in shade and you can add maybe a few drops of red and orange food color to get a darker color. I haven't added any. The cake is a little dense, but not as much as the oven ones.

I googled a bunch of recipes, mixed up a few and got this recipe. Also the cake tastes better a day after baking, so you might want to bake it in advance. I observed that any microwave made cake tastes better the next day.


Ingredients:

• Maida/All Purpose Flour- 1 cup
• Baking Soda- 1/2 tsp
• Baking Powder- 1/4 tsp
• Oil- 1/6 cup
• Water- 1/2 cup
• Spice Powder- 1/4 tsp in total (I added some cinnamon powder and grated a little nutmeg)
• Sugar- 1/3 cup+ 2 tbsp if required (I used demerara sugar)
• Vinegar- 3-4 tbsp

Soaked nuts- 2 tbsp

• I used dried kiwi, dried raspberries, black raisins, yellow raisins, cherries, tutti-frutti, almonds, walnuts, cashews, pistachios, melon seeds. 
• You can add dried pineapple, dried orange as well. 
• Chop all into rough pieces and add into a glass jar. (Do not use any other, especially not metal.)
• Pour the rum slowly and mix with wooden spoon or stick. (I used the appe pan stick) 
• Add two cloves, half of star anise and two half inch pieces of cinnamon sticks.)
• The liquid should cover the nuts. Place a clean cloth on the opening and close with lid. Stir once every day with wooden spoon for a week. Then stir alternate days. Keep in cool and dry place away from sunlight.
• If using normal juice, follow same procedure but store in refrigerator. Soaking for a week in orange or apple juice should be enough. 
• I am not giving measurements because I soaked stuff that can be used for about small cakes since I wanted to experiment with different versions. (egg and eggless)

Method:

For Caramel:

1. Now this is a pretty tricky thing in case you haven't prepared it before. It took me three fails to get the art of making a decent caramel. The trick here is to add very little water and not to stir. I admit it is tough to control the itch of stirring the bubbling sugar syrup, but it messes up the process (at least in my case).
2. 
   
3. If you haven't tried caramel making before stick to normal white sugar because it gets difficult to tell when the caramel is ready as the demerara sugar melts. There is very little time for us to save the caramel from burning as it thickens. Be careful and do not burn your fingers.
4. 
   
5. Now coming to the procedure, take a thick bottom pan and add sugar in the center. Add two tbsp of water and keep the heat on simmer. Let it melt, boil and bubble. DO not stir until the color turns to pale yellow.
6. From here the caramel burns fast so stir and turn off the heat. The color will still change to honey-brown.
7. To this add around 1/4 cup of water and stir from a distance.
8. The caramel will harden, turn on the heat and let it melt. It will take about 2 minutes. Turn off the heat if the pan has no crystals. Let it cool.
9. When the caramel water is still warm, add oil and mix well. Then add vinegar and stir. Keep it aside. 

For Cake:

1. Sift maida/APF, baking powder and baking soda. Add the soaked nuts(not liquid) to it and mix well.
2. Add the liquid to the cooled caramel water + oil solution and mix. 
3. Now add the wet ingredients to dry and fold gently. The batter has to be thick otherwise the nuts will sink to the bottom when baking. 
4. Do not over mix. 
5. Grease a microwave safe bowl/dish and dust it lightly with flour. Tap off the excess flour and pour the batter into it. Tap once to set the top and place in microwave. 
6. Set the power to 80% and timer to 3 mins. 
7. Mine was real thick batter and it took exactly 3 mins to bake it.
8. Check with a toothpick by inserting it into the cake. If it comes out clean, the cake is done. 
9. Otherwise, put it back in for another 30 seconds. 
10. Once done, let it sit in the hot oven for a minute. 
11. Take it out, let it cool completely before inverting it onto a plate. 
12. I did not add any icing, but it is your choice. 
13. Let it cool completely in case you want to ice it. 
14. Here comes the toughest part. Cut into pieces and store in an airtight container and taste the next day.
15. The flavors will settle and intensify in 24 hours giving a cake a nice nutty taste. 
16. It will stay god for up to 3 days in a cool and dry place.